We’ve got a nice bit of official 4K news to start the new week: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment is releasing The Karate Kid on 4K in honor of the film’s 35th anniversary. Look for the disc to street on 4/16, following the film’s limited return to theaters across the US on 3/31 and 4/2.

The disc will feature the film remastered in native 4K from the original camera negative, along with a new Dolby Atmos audio mix (you will also get the original stereo and 5.1 mixes). In terms of extras, legacy content will include a “Blu-Pop” Pop-Up Track (with trivia, interviews, and more secrets from the film), audio commentary (with director John G. Avildsen, writer Robert Mark Kamen, and actors Ralph Macchio and Pat Morita), The Way of the Karate Kid multi-part featurette, 3 additional featurettes (Beyond the Form, East Meets West: A Composer’s Notebook, and Life of Bonsai) and the theatrical trailer (on the 4K disc). You’ll also get the all new Remembering The Karate Kid retrospective (featuring new interviews with Ralph Macchio, William Zabka, and Martin Kove – on the 4K disc).

Back to news... also on the 4K Ultra HD front, it looks like Flicker Alley is releasing their first title on the format on 3/28, with The Flying Clipper (aka Mediterranean Holiday) 4K. The package will include both Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD. The set will include all previous bonus content, plus you’ll get a new Dolby Atmos audio mix. The film has been newly-scanned in 4K from an original 70mm print.

In other news, Shout! Factory has announced that they’re releasing the anime A Silent Voice on Blu-ray on 4/2. The company has also begun announcing a great Blu-ray slate for May, including This Gun for Hire: Shout Select (1942), Quartermass and the Pit (1967), and Quartermass II (1957) on 5/14, followed by The Seduction (1982) and Earthquake: Shout Select (1974) on 5/21, and When a Stranger Calls Back (1993) on 5/28.

Kino Lorber Studio Classics has just set Virgil W. Vogel’s The Land Unknown (1957) for release on Blu-ray on 4/23.

Section 23 is releasing a Gatchaman: Collector’s Edition on Blu-ray on 4/30, set to include all 105 episodes of the anime series, plus the OVAs, movie, and a 64-page Alex Ross art book. SRP is $149, but Amazon has it up for pre-order for $103.

This is pretty cool: PBS has announced that the latest Ken Burns documentary, Country Music, will debut on PBS on 9/15. This is a 16-hour, 8-part documentary series. It will be release on Blu-ray and DVD in September (street date, TBA).

Now, there are a lot of things this image could be, but it seems to us that one of the most likely is an HD remaster of the entire series from the best available source material. This makes sense, as the BBC has recently been remastering its older classic series for upsampled/remastered release on Blu-ray, including most recently The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and vintage seasons of Doctor Who. So while we’ll have to wait for an officially announcement, color us excited. Any chance to see this series looking better than ever would be welcome indeed.

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About Bill Hunt

Bill Hunt is the Editor in Chief of The Digital Bits, and the co-author (with Todd Doogan) of the Amazon Top 50 selling book The Digital Bits: Insiders Guide to DVD. Hunt founded The Bits in 1997, in the early days of the DVD format,…

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